/ 
App-CSVUtils-1.033
River stage one • 3 direct dependents • 4 total dependents
/ csv-fill-template

NAME

csv-fill-template - Substitute template values in a text file with fields from CSV rows

VERSION

This document describes version 1.033 of csv-fill-template (from Perl distribution App-CSVUtils), released on 2023-09-06.

SYNOPSIS

csv-fill-template --help (or -h, -?)

csv-fill-template --version (or -v)

csv-fill-template [--debug|--log-level=level|--quiet|--trace|--verbose] [--format=name|--json] [--input-escape-char=str] [--input-header|--no-input-header|--noinput-header] [--input-quote-char=str] [--input-sep-char=str] [--input-tsv] [--(no)naked-res] [--page-result[=program]|--view-result[=program]] -- [input_filename] <template_filename>

DESCRIPTION

Templates are text that contain [[NAME]] field placeholders. The field placeholders will be replaced by values from the CSV file. This is a simple alternative to mail-merge. (I first wrote this utility because LibreOffice Writer, as always, has all the annoying bugs; that particular time, one that prevented mail merge from working.)

Example:

% cat madlib.txt
Today I went to the park. I saw a(n) [[adjective1]] [[noun1]] running
towards me. It looked hungry, really hungry. Horrified and terrified, I took
a(n) [[adjective2]] [[noun2]] and waved the thing [[adverb1]] towards it.
[[adverb2]], when it arrived at my feet, it [[verb1]] and [[verb2]] me
instead. I was relieved, the [[noun1]] was a friendly creature after all.
After we [[verb3]] for a little while, I went home with a(n) [[noun3]] on my
face. That was an unforgettable day indeed.

% cat values.csv
adjective1,adjective2,adjective3,noun1,noun2,noun3,verb1,verb2,verb3,adverb1,adverb2
slow,gigantic,sticky,smartphone,six-wheeler truck,lollipop,piece of tissue,threw,kissed,stared,angrily,hesitantly
sweet,delicious,red,pelican,bottle of parfume,desk,exercised,jumped,slept,confidently,passively

% csv-fill-template values.csv madlib.txt
Today I went to the park. I saw a(n) slow six-wheeler truck running
towards me. It looked hungry, really hungry. Horrified and terrified, I took
a(n) gigantic lollipop and waved the thing angrily towards it.
hesitantly, when it arrived at my feet, it threw and kissed me
instead. I was relieved, the six-wheeler truck was a friendly creature after all.
After we stared for a little while, I went home with a(n) piece of tissue on my
face. That was an unforgettable day indeed.

---
Today I went to the park. I saw a(n) sweet pelican running
towards me. It looked hungry, really hungry. Horrified and terrified, I took
a(n) delicious bottle of parfume and waved the thing confidently towards it.
passively, when it arrived at my feet, it exercised and jumped me
instead. I was relieved, the pelican was a friendly creature after all.
After we slept for a little while, I went home with a(n) desk on my
face. That was an unforgettable day indeed.

OPTIONS

* marks required options.

Main options

--template-filename=s*

(No description)

Can also be specified as the 2nd command-line argument.

Input options

--input-escape-char=s

Specify character to escape value in field in input CSV, will be passed to Text::CSV_XS.

Defaults to \\ (backslash). Overrides --input-tsv option.

--input-filename=s

Input CSV file.

Default value:

"-"

Use - to read from stdin.

Encoding of input file is assumed to be UTF-8.

Can also be specified as the 1st command-line argument.

--input-quote-char=s

Specify field quote character in input CSV, will be passed to Text::CSV_XS.

Defaults to " (double quote). Overrides --input-tsv option.

--input-sep-char=s

Specify field separator character in input CSV, will be passed to Text::CSV_XS.

Defaults to , (comma). Overrides --input-tsv option.

--input-tsv

Inform that input file is in TSV (tab-separated) format instead of CSV.

Overriden by --input-sep-char, --input-quote-char, --input-escape-char options. If one of those options is specified, then --input-tsv will be ignored.

--no-input-header

Specify that input CSV does not have a header row.

By default, the first row of the input CSV will be assumed to contain field names (and the second row contains the first data row). When you declare that input CSV does not have header row (--no-input-header), the first row of the CSV is assumed to contain the first data row. Fields will be named field1, field2, and so on.

Logging options

--debug

Shortcut for --log-level=debug.

--log-level=s

Set log level.

By default, these log levels are available (in order of increasing level of importance, from least important to most): trace, debug, info, warn/warning, error, fatal. By default, the level is usually set to warn, which means that log statements with level info and less important levels will not be shown. To increase verbosity, choose info, debug, or trace.

For more details on log level and logging, as well as how new logging levels can be defined or existing ones modified, see Log::ger.

--quiet

Shortcut for --log-level=error.

--trace

Shortcut for --log-level=trace.

--verbose

Shortcut for --log-level=info.

Output options

--format=s

Choose output format, e.g. json, text.

Default value:

undef

Output can be displayed in multiple formats, and a suitable default format is chosen depending on the application and/or whether output destination is interactive terminal (i.e. whether output is piped). This option specifically chooses an output format.

--json

Set output format to json.

--naked-res

When outputing as JSON, strip result envelope.

Default value:

0

By default, when outputing as JSON, the full enveloped result is returned, e.g.:

[200,"OK",[1,2,3],{"func.extra"=>4}]

The reason is so you can get the status (1st element), status message (2nd element) as well as result metadata/extra result (4th element) instead of just the result (3rd element). However, sometimes you want just the result, e.g. when you want to pipe the result for more post-processing. In this case you can use --naked-res so you just get:

[1,2,3]
--page-result

Filter output through a pager.

This option will pipe the output to a specified pager program. If pager program is not specified, a suitable default e.g. less is chosen.

--view-result

View output using a viewer.

This option will first save the output to a temporary file, then open a viewer program to view the temporary file. If a viewer program is not chosen, a suitable default, e.g. the browser, is chosen.

Other options

--help, -h, -?

Display help message and exit.

--version, -v

Display program's version and exit.

COMPLETION

This script has shell tab completion capability with support for several shells.

bash

To activate bash completion for this script, put:

complete -C csv-fill-template csv-fill-template

in your bash startup (e.g. ~/.bashrc). Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command. Or, you can also directly execute the line above in your shell to activate immediately.

It is recommended, however, that you install modules using cpanm-shcompgen which can activate shell completion for scripts immediately.

tcsh

To activate tcsh completion for this script, put:

complete csv-fill-template 'p/*/`csv-fill-template`/'

in your tcsh startup (e.g. ~/.tcshrc). Your next shell session will then recognize tab completion for the command. Or, you can also directly execute the line above in your shell to activate immediately.

It is also recommended to install shcompgen (see above).

other shells

For fish and zsh, install shcompgen as described above.

HOMEPAGE

Please visit the project's homepage at https://metacpan.org/release/App-CSVUtils.

SOURCE

Source repository is at https://github.com/perlancar/perl-App-CSVUtils.

AUTHOR

perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>

CONTRIBUTING

To contribute, you can send patches by email/via RT, or send pull requests on GitHub.

Most of the time, you don't need to build the distribution yourself. You can simply modify the code, then test via:

% prove -l

If you want to build the distribution (e.g. to try to install it locally on your system), you can install Dist::Zilla, Dist::Zilla::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, Pod::Weaver::PluginBundle::Author::PERLANCAR, and sometimes one or two other Dist::Zilla- and/or Pod::Weaver plugins. Any additional steps required beyond that are considered a bug and can be reported to me.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is copyright (c) 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016 by perlancar <perlancar@cpan.org>.

This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.

BUGS

Please report any bugs or feature requests on the bugtracker website https://rt.cpan.org/Public/Dist/Display.html?Name=App-CSVUtils

When submitting a bug or request, please include a test-file or a patch to an existing test-file that illustrates the bug or desired feature.